As of 2:30 PM we have had over a foot of rain in less than twelve hours. I planted some semi-tropical ornamentals yesterday one of which was a tree in a 30 gallon nursery pot. I had planned to plant out some of my fig cuttings but got distracted with the ornamentals. I thought my fig cuttings were drowning in my potting mix. How Ironic is that!
 
The rain has been non stop and when my pool was over run with rising water (the surrounding grade is nine inches lower) I decided that I needed to find out where all the water was coming from. I found that a large commercial tract of property that was cleared of vegetation last year now all drains to the back of my property. In 45 years of living here I have never seen water like this.
 
The plants I planted yesterday, well some of them are missing and some are buried in debris. The large tree is leaning over in the middle of my $100.00 hole that I dug and amended with priceless compost. All the compost and dirt is gone washed away and probably in my pool. At one point there was a creek two inches deep running into my pool and out the other side. It has done and untold amount of damage.

The good news! I know there is a problem although I do not have a solution yet and none of my in-ground fig trees appear to have been hurt.

The other bad news.

It’s still raining and forecast to continue until tomorrow morning.

Glad it isn't any worse. Sounds like the owner of the commercial tract needs to see what's happening and take care of it.

That sounds horrible. As Ken says, sounds like the owner of the commercial tract needs to address this or it could even get worse. You can't just change water drainage patterns onto someone else's property. He might not know. Take lots and lots of pictures to document what's happening. Start a written log too.

Yep, fully document, then check with local regulations to see if he needs to cover it.  An attorney would know, but they aren't cheap!  Sorry this happened to you!
Suzi

Glad no one was hurt and the figs are safe.
I agree, take photos, keep a log of events, including who you speak with, date and time, then follow up w letters. Copies of everything.
Good documentation now prevents a lot of "I don't recall being made aware or notified" in the future.

Wow that is a lot of rain. The developer should be notified as soon as possible. Watch out for snakes.

They very likely did not follow building codes, and the mere threat of a lawsuit should have a crew out there working soon. Follow the stream and find other neighbors who have had damage as well. I found this little article that confirms you have solid legal recourse. http://mobile.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/rain-runoff-harming-lower-landowners-is-actionable.aspx?googleid=298010

Good luck.

The biggest problem is that the owner predates all the codes with teeth and on complaints I've previously had I was told he was grandfathered in. After fifteen years of on again off again I finally had progress with the city and they forced him to fence the property where it joins residential property. The code stated that the fencing had to be 8' tall and 80% opaque. They sank chain link post and pulled chain link fence. No top rail . No bottom tension wire. They then wired tied a fabric to it that is 80% opaque as described but the manufacturer. The legal definition is that 80% of a square foot of the material was to be of a material you can not see through and it is. It is a woven fabric that has 20% non opaque read that as clear as in no fabric. When you look at it you see right through it. The whole idea behind the fencing being opaque was that it would block the view from the residential neighborhood and preserve property values. What a joke. When you stand back and view it it is as you had on Dark Shades and everything is visible. I complained and was told it meets the legal definition of the code.

The second insurmountable issue is that this will be declared an "Act of GOD"! This is the second highest single day rain event EVER! The highest was in 1934.

I actually wandered around taking video on my camera. I think the lens was partially fogged but under the circumstances it was the best I could do. I can't view yet since when the battery died I put it inside the pocket of my rain coast not knowing that there was three inches of water inside the pocket. It seems the only thing waterproof on the rain coat was the inside of the pockets. They obviously didn't leak a drop. The rest of me was soaking wet. The camera is now taking a rice bath to see if it will work again. At least the card should be OK.

I got hit by hurricaine Irene last year, flooded my back yard and came into my house front and back as my drains were all clogged. French drain in the back of the house flooded because the ground water level was so high. What a mess. We had to just about empty the whole bottom floor throw a bunch of stuff away. Many of my plants were floating around in the backyard, many didn't make it, rotted away. Insurance said we weren't covered. Some loophole about it not being an actual flood or some crap like that.  

How horrible.  I'm sorry this is happening to you.

Charles, my prayers are with you. 

I feel for you Charles, we're getting the  same rain here a little further west along the coast. 2" Thursday, 3" Friday, 3" Saturday until 3 in the afternoon and it rained much more. Then this morning we were awake by the sound of thunder an rain. Yesterday all the street in the neighborhood were flooded with up to a foot of water. With each new round of rain my yard gets covered and my potted trees get left standing in water until it goes down. I'm afraid that I might lose some trees if this doesn't stop soon. I'll head outside as soon as this round of rain passed to see if I can move some of them to higher ground. It's time for this system to move on.
"gene"

We had a break last night but it started again this morning. All my problems came about when we had sustained 2+ inches per hour for about 1 1/2 hours. It just exceeded the runoff rate and backed up. I thought I would be able to start cleaning up but I need to wait until this has passed by.

Thanks for your prayers. All in all this is a minor inconvenience. There are some people who's houses are under water.

Sorry to hear this. 16-18 inches in two days! That is what we get in San Jose for an entire year! Like you said, an inconvenience. You'll get everything established even better than before I bet. Good luck.....

Well I think it's over for us and soon will be for you to Charles. Of course before it left us, it dropped another 3 inches for a total of around 11 inches. It just came at the wrong time though. I have figs ripening and have lost a few to splitting and souring. Now we need a couple of weeks of dry weather.
"gene"

Glad it is passed and you can start soon on cleanup